JONNY MITCHELL: A reminder of the frailty of life

HEAD LINES Jonny Mitchell.

Thornhill Community Academy’s straight-talking headteacher Jonny Mitchell showed the world what life in the classroom is really like in the award-winning TV documentary series Educating Yorkshire.

Now he writes exclusively for us.

I heard a news report this morning of the potential fate of Michelangelo’s world-renowned statue of David. It appears that the great master himself was not all he was cracked up to be, and he sculpted his icon with extremely weak ankles, such that, according to experts, it is only a matter of time before they give way under the weight of his body. Experts are scrambling their efforts to reinforce the base of the statue to prevent this masterpiece from shattering into a thousand pieces. You might be wondering how this fits in with what I want to write about today. Well, bear with me please.

I would normally steer well clear of an issue as tragic and horrifying as the murder of Ann Maguire, the much-loved teacher who lost her life under such horrendous circumstances at Corpus Christi recently.

But I think it would be a slight on her memory and the commitment she had to the students, for over 40 years, not to make some form of reference to her in my column.

Alongside the outpouring of grief, shock and horror which has followed this tragedy, however, there have been other repercussions, the likes of which have not really been witnessed since the mindless, fatal attack on Headteacher Philip Lawrence some 20 years ago.

Then, as now, there were immediate calls for the authorities to look very carefully at school security. It was rare to open a newspaper without finding opinion pieces and editorial lamenting the lax attitude of school leaders and local authorities towards security of staff and pupils, insinuating some form of huge failing. But the facts and the circumstances in both instances, even taken at basic level, indicate the same thing - these were both isolated incidents, and could have happened anywhere and at any time, to anyone.

True, staff and students who come to school should be safe in the knowledge that they are in a safe haven; indeed, many schools have heightened security, chiefly as a response to changes in society generally, to make sure the school grounds are comforting and secure places to be. This, variously, includes the appointment of safer schools police officers, the installation of metal detectors and airport-style weapons gates. But, essentially, irrespective of the levels of security introduced in any school, and for whatever reason, neither of these tragic incidents would have been prevented. It is, unfortunately, the human condition which dictates this type of heinous behaviour; it is just unfortunate in the extreme that hard-working, caring and passionate people sometimes get caught in the crossfire.

It’s also cruelly ironic that the day I write this, the parole board have just recommended the release of Phillip Lawrence’s killer. Seems like a piece of classically good timing in the circumstances.

Closer to home, it has also been a time of great distress in the Thornhill community, with the sudden passing of one of our dearly-loved students. School resumed on the Monday after the Easter holidays without Ahmed Wadee, one of our popular, happy Year 9 boys. Ahmed was known, almost universally, by his absolutely huge smile, and his penchant for food. I cannot recall a single occasion when I would have met him in a corridor when he wasn’t beaming widely, laughing at something or other or looking as though he was on the brink of playing a joke. Knowing that he won’t be part of our school any longer has been a difficult realisation to make for all of us, and I only hope that his family and close friends find that time mellows their grief and sadness, and they can begin to focus on all the happy times they spent together.

A big part of our community has gone, and I wanted to use the opportunity of my column to wish his family and friends our heartfelt condolences and best wishes at this difficult time.

And what has this to do with Michelangelo’s David? I am a great believer in symbolism, and the analogy of David could serve as a reminder of the absolute frailty of the human condition; the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry; just as David could fall, without warning, and be lost to us forever, so the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune can rain down on anyone, at any time. Sophisticated as we might think we are, there are simply things over which we have absolutely no control. Ahmed Wadee and Ann Maguire exemplify this in spades.

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

Hebden Bridge Times provides news, events and sport features from the Halifax area. For the best up to date information relating to Halifax and the surrounding areas visit us at Hebden Bridge Times regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website Hebden Bridge Times requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.